Photographer's Note

Lindisfarne Castle is seen here, located on the eastern tip of the Holy Island of Lindisfarne on the Northumberland coast. Across the water, about 10km away to the south, the very much larger Bamburgh Castle can be seen (21km by road).

The Holy Island of Lindisfarne is where St Aidan, who came from the island of Iona (off Scotland's west coast), founded a monastery in AD 635; he was followed by a series of Celtic Chrstian Saints - Cuthbert, Eadfrith and Eadberht. In time it became one of Europe's most important centres of Christian evangelism. Vikings began raiding the island in AD 793, and the monks left it in 875 - taking St Cuthbert's bones with them - when the Vikings took control of Northumbria. In 1570 a Tudor castle fortress was completed, but it was of little use by then as the cannons of the day could easily penetrate castle walls. In more recent times a part of the castle has been used from time to time as a holiday home. Renovations commissioned by Sir Edwin Lutyens in 1901 enabled the preservation of the castle, which would probably have otherwise fallen into ruin.

The island itself - its civilised history based mainly on fishing and limestone production - is about 3.5 by 2.5 kilometres in area, and cut off from the mainland only by the daily high tides. One can drive on to it and off it, as we did, between the times advertised very prominently at the start of the causeway. The tide began to come in about an hour after I took this picture. In truth, the village and various nautical things are picturesque and interesting enough in their own right to make a visit worthwhile, and the nearby village pub, which served good beer, seemed a better option at the time than a walk right up to the castle rock.

Hallo Andrew,
you are adding a very moody impression of this famous place to the gallery here. The cloudy sky is very attractive. You were really lucky with the beautiful light. My compliments!
Warm regards
Harriet

Hello Andrew,
The lighting here is quite something and creates a wonderful mood. The image is well composed with a pleasing juxtaposition between the castle and the foreground boats. Superb colours and sharpness.

Hello Andrew,
This is an extremely picturesque photo with a lot of very attractive ingredients: the ruin on the hill, the boats stranded in the low tide, the nicely shaped clouds and the fantastic light reflected in the shallow water. It is in every way a very well taken photo.
Kind regards,
Gert

Hi Andrew,
A very beautiful and interesting picture, with an old castle and some modern boats. I wouldn´t be surprised if some of my forefathers were among those Vikings who were here 1220 years ago...
Kind regards
Gunnar

Hello Andrew,
the light is very special, I like the picture with some shaded area due to the clouds, sky magnificent and great details, the composition is well done and pastel colors are pleasant, nice work...nice location...
regards...

I see more a painting than a picture in these image.
So lovely the small boats and the sea in background.
Nice perspective and depth picture.
You chose a very well angle, excellent composition
Very well done, TFS.

What a nice place. It seems to be so quiet. I like the management of the light on that castle. I like these brown colors on the beach. So unusual; like a chocolate, but beautiful with these reflections.

Hi Andrew
I love the balance compo, colours and contrast, the way the light is catching on the main interests you have them both captured brilliantly here. The wonderful cloud formation completes the shot strikingly. This is a delightful subtly shot and always pleasant to view!! tfs
Best regards

Hi Andrew.
Fascinating image of this corner of the English coast, love the POV captured with the group of small boats and the small hill with the castle, to the left of the plane, the sky is wonderful and is a great bonus to the composition.
Very good image quality, sharpness is also great.
Good job. I love it.
Happy start to the week.
Best wishes.
Luis.

Hi Andrew,
although rather different, seeing this photo I thought about Saint Malo.
beautiful seascape, with wonderful clouds above. Probably taken in low tide, there is almost now water under the one of the boats. Nicely composed shot and a real pleasure to look at it.

Hi Andrew,
Quite a daring framing, leaving the famous castle on such a small role. Nevertheless, the low tide seascape looks lovely. (High tide shots are more rare from this location, you know the reason!) On this case the bigger version on beta really makes the difference.
Kari

Lindisfarne has more than a passing resemblance to Mont St Michel in France. Good sharpness and well composed with the horizon line well away from the centre and the sea horizon perfectly level. Nice repetition of the boats at angles because of low tide. Tfs!

Hi Andrew!
A really beautiful place! That castle at the top seems a wonderful place to discover and I like your composition here - the pebbles in foreground, the little boats in the low tide and the castle at the top, so well placed. Light is great!

Hi Andrew,
It is very nicely composed photo with anchored boats in the foreground and single mountain with the castle on the top in the background. The beautiful sky above complete this gorgeous shot.
Best regards,
Zbigniew